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oDDity: http://forums.thedarkmod.com/index.php?showtopic=520

But the texture can be seen on the image??? It's not black there.

I noticed something really strange - our custom objects are not rendered correctly in D3 ! as you can see the table stays black, eventhough the flashlight should lit it up... anyone an idea ??

well it's a coffeetable - they are very low in RL - for example: well of course they'll look better with a normalmap, but is it really worth for such small objects ? remember - each normalmap needs graphics-memory. I'd rather prefer to have more high-res textures and skins instead of normal-mapping every tiny little object regarding the specular - that shouldn't be a problem, however I can't get the objects working in the editor myself - dunno why - they are all black cubes in the editor, but they work when I start D3 and load the mod

So, Tom, are you still with us? Haven't seen you post anywhere yet. Are you seeing the developer's forums now?

http://www.tpd.tno.nl/smartsite966.html that's the URL. but I found out that it actually isn't one huge picture. there is also a thread in the TTLG at Communtiy Chat. http://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=91130&page=1

Anyone familiar with this team? I was wondering if we could recruit some people now that they seem like they're nearing completion. http://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=91246

ok - no it works quite fine it's still black, cauze D3 can't find the skin one problem though - I've no idea how big the table actually is in blender units...cauze when everything is one object blender counts from 1. so this is 0.25..... http://www.dark-project.com/BlackThief/cof...tab_ingame2.jpg

It will not be rendered if it is not skinned. It's not like in the modelling app that you can leave the default shading if it suits you. The model will just be pitch black if you import it just like this. The reason being because the modelling apps usually have a default shader applied which gives this grey look, but there is no such thing in D3.

If they are black it could be that the normals are wrong. Go into Vertex editing mode (TAB) and select enough vertices for one face. Then press W and click on "Flip normal". Maybe that's your problem. If that is the case, then select all the vertices from the faces that are wrong and repeat that. Quite tedious job.

lol not sure if I can teach you anything... I've got some trouble uv-mapping the table: (the side-parts aren't that dark, that's a rendering issue) I can't UV-map the table-legs. they're completely black and when I click on them in the "UV face select"-mode my texture is gone in the other window. anyone an idea ? the whole table is one object !

Slow down, NH. See above post. We should be very careful about not letting our own enthusiasm dictate what we show the public. We could post something like this in our own public forums, but I wouldn't make it a public release, UNLESS it was combined with some other things, like mentioned above. In all seriousness, if we had the following: The bedroom map (in-game, with fire going), The ability for objects to vanish when frobbed At the very least, removing the D3 HUD and crosshairs THEN, I think it might be worth releasing a new video. But not until then. IMO, it's better to have people wondering what we're up to than it is to release things that make people (who know nothing about how hard things are) say, "THAT's all you've got so far??"

Okay, since it hasn't been done yet, I'll kick it off. First let me say, I assume this thread is to contain requests out of the ordinary, as stated by sparhawk at the TTLG forums: QUOTE I'm not talking of the standard features like buttons, switches, or similar stuff. Rather I'm thinking of things you might have wanted to implement in an FM but you couldn't because of limitations in the engine or in DromEd as opposed to the obvious, like rope arrows, swimming, etc. So here's a few ideas just to get things going. -random treasure spawns. An author would place a piece of optional treasure, and set a percentage chance that it will appear or not. -optional path nodes (although I think this might already be possible with Dromed). The AI can choose to ignore a node or go on a different, separate path altogether. -AI actions similar to NOLF2. I never played the game myself, but I'd heard they do things that are unexpected, at unexpected times. Many times I've played Thief and thought to myself, "why is that cook just pacing back and forth?" Clearly for gameplay, NOT realism. "Why would a guy just be standing here in a dark room, facing the wall, then turn to the fireplace, back to the wall, back to fireplace, etc?" Again, gameplay, not realism. I'd heard that in NOLF2, AI will often kick a can around, or fidget (already in Thief), or even leave patrol to go to the restroom. That sounds like a fantastic addition that might really lend some tension to the overall experience. -AI ladder climbing. Touchy subject, that, as it eliminates some safety and comfort in the game, but probably a good addition. Okay, there's a few for now. What ideas would you suggest?

If you look for some tutorials you can learn the basics in a few hours. It is really hard to learn when you just want to experiement with it, without looking at a manual. Fomr the big apps you can usually do a lot just by clicking around. Not so with Blender. On the other hand, the interface is asboluelty streamlined to support the workflow. If you learn the keys you must use you can do a lot of stuff in a short time once you are used to it. I saw on the blender forums that there are now also video tutorials available. This might be helpfull. Search on D3World for "blender tutorials" and you can find them easily, there is a direct link to these.

This workflow I highly recommend, not because the 3 programs suggested here are FREE, but because they are the best at what they do, IMO. I love these 3 programs. You will LOVE wings3d for modelling, if you are like me and HATE Blender's nerdy complex interface. (this is from http://irrlicht.sourceforge.net/phpBB2/vie...ic.php?p=21397) Where to get these programs: www.wings3d.com (for modelling) CharacterFX www.insanesoftware.de (for animating) Lithunwrap (for texturing) is discontinued and available free at arras's site http://members.lycos.co.uk/arras1/ Also check out arras's site to see what he has been making with this workflow. Bloody awesome game objects. They are all very low poly though, for older systems. Look at the gallery forums at the www.wings3d.com forums to see the high-poly stuff people are making with wings3d. It's just as well suited for low poly as high poly - it has always used the "box modelling" interface, which only the latest versions of big name 3D apps have just made it the new pseudo standard for modelling. The reason this workflow is so good is because each of these programs has a specific purpose (modeling, texturing, and animating) and they are all VERY GOOD and VERY SIMPLE TO USE at what they are for. Ever hard of the term "jack of all trades, master of none"? That doesn't apply to this workflow

Ok, I've been playing around and have learned to make basic skyboxes. Here's one (I didn't do the graphics). Next step is to create a night-time one with a city-scape on the horizon, for use in the city maps. We'll need one for our main menu graphic.

I finished the highlight for doors and changed the behaviour for items as well. Now the highlighting works in a uniform way for all entities. As you can see on the screenshot it may not be to nice for ingame, so I would need a texture that can be used for the highlight. Currently I simply use this one for testing: base/textures/base_door/doorlight_grn.tga http://forums.thedarkmod.com/index.php?showt...st=0entry4929 I think the texture should probably be just a white one so that it will brighten up the object in a uniform way but with lower brightness. Probably a moderately light gray. If you want to test the texture you can do the following: I used the frobTest.map. In materials/custom.mtr you (Renzatic) added this material description and I added this texture to it. Textures/Dark_Mod/Mansion/Doors/Mansion_Door02 { qer_editorimage Textures/Dark_Mod/Mansion/Doors/Mansion_Door02_ed.tga diffusemap Textures/Dark_Mod/Mansion/Doors/Mansion_Door02_d.tga specularmap Textures/Dark_Mod/Mansion/Doors/Mansion_Door02_s.tga bumpmap Textures/Dark_Mod/Mansion/Doors/Mansion_Door02_local.tga { // if ( parm11 >= 0.5 ) blend add map textures/base_door/doorlight_grn.tga colored } }

Here are some screens from another D3 mod...our textures look better, but it's nice to see some city environments. Something like this is what we want for our main menu. http://mods.moddb.com/gallery/3906/

The loading screen will stay the same. And for serious authors they can provide their own stuff easily. As for the loading. We could add some small meters at the top (like in T2) and they can show the progress or move randomly and the big clock could show the advancement. Maybe for loading the menu buttons could fade out and be replaced by gears or meters.

I like this screen. concerning the street. Don't you think it might be better to shift the street to the side. As the Thief being pressed against the wall observing the guard. I don't know how that would look lik as a menu background. Could be that it might not work so well. I think the clock fits in very nicely. We could let the torch flicker. When the player moves the mouse to a button we could probably let the hand follow accompanied by a heavy mechanic sound.

I had another idea while I was working on this. I realized what the above version was missing was a middle-ground. The clock is foreground, and the city is background, but there was nothing in between. Looking at BT's latest wall (very cool) made me think of a city street. The tunneling effect that I liked so much in Ren's parchment picture could be created by a city street using an in-game shot. This would accomplish a few things: 1. It gives an immediate feel for what 'our' city is like. 2. It has lots of depth (artistically speaking) 3. It showcases the engine graphics right away. 4. It's fairly simple, and doesn't require tons of art production. 5. It can still capture the feeling of the player 'being' the Thief as they look at the menu (at least to some extent). The version below obviously uses the T3 picture, so we'd have to create one of our own. But it gives you the idea. What do you think? Should the clock still be a part of it? If I can put some gears around it that could turn as options were selected, that might be good.

Or just reading. I don't know if that was too obtuse.... I haven't been able to do anything with the concept that I like. After many many hours, I'm no further ahead than when I started, so I'm leaving the menu to other people. I'm happy to advise or tinker with other people's concepts, but I don't have the time or expertise to do one from scratch.

Hey I would like to personally thank you for your help on the doom3world forums for various questions I have asked. Thanks for the support and the help! Good Luck on your mod!

Hi this is bad marine ass from the Planetdoom and doom3world.org forums and I just thought I'd stop by to wish you guys good luck. I'm both a Doom and Thief fan, and I can't wait to see what happens when the 2 games get married I'm also a solo modder (current project is Doom 3 Aftermath), that means I do most of the work by myself like mapping, modelling, coding and texturing, and since I'm relatively new to the modding scene, I hope to learn more from teams like yourselves and I'm sure I could help out a bit with you guys if you're too busy or anything. Best of luck to the Dark Mod!

Sure, you can tackle the nobleman. Be sure to check the concept art thread. http://forums.thedarkmod.com/index.php?showtopic=344 As far as the technical details, that's outside my area of expertise. You'll have to ask either Deep Omega or oDDity about that. As well, oDDity has made available a male and female template which I am encouraging people to use as a base for our characters.